Solidox: Molar Mischief

1946
Sound
2m

Look out, germs at work! These loveable molar mischief making puppets really dig tooth decay.

This post-WWII toothpaste ad feels years ahead of its time, featuring a gang of wacky stop motion puppets that revel in a plaque problem. The set inside the mouth and the germ characters manage to be successfully charming and grotesque at the same time. Animator Edwin Shorter patented his puppet construction process, but failed to make a career from it.

The film is shot in British Tricolour, a three-strip colour process that used a prism in a similar but far less successful way to Technicolor. It was developed by Jack Coote, but later bought by Dufay-Chromex and rebranded as Dufaychrome, but had disappeared by the mid-1950s.

Cinema Advertising Comes of Age

The 1930s saw screen advertising find its voice. That wasn't just down to the arrival of the 'talkies', but to the increasing professionalism of ad agencies and production companies.

Through WWII and the postwar austerity years and into the 'never had it so good' 1950s - when it had to compete with the new commercial television service - cinema advertising offered a bigger bang for your advertising buck.